Arizona native Shawn Foree has been releasing albums under the name Digital Leather since 2004. This past year, he's relocated to Omaha, found a whole new lineup and released a new album called 'Warm Brother.' He recently spoke to Spinner about Digital Leather's origins, their plans for SXSW and their penchant for getting into trouble.

Describe your sound your own words.

A wall of noise with heavy synthesizers.

How'd you come up with the name Digital Leather?

When I started recording, it was super lo-fi stuff using super crappy instruments, and the recording just sounded really rough. When you're recording on tape with cheap keyboards, you get some really horrible sounds. I thought Digital Leather would complement that sound. I got stuck with it. I wanted to change my name at some point, but I'm just keeping it.

It seems all you have to do these days to get a dinner invitation from the 'New York Times' is to have a band name that corresponds to a common cocktail ingredient. At least that's the case for the Bitters, the Toronto "cave pop" duo co-founded by F---ed Up guitarist Ben Cook.

"This guy [from the 'Times'] is doing an article about bitters and emailed me and was like, 'I know you play in a bitters band, what do you know about bitters?' and I just lied through my teeth and said, 'I know everything about bitters'," Cook tells Spinner from, of all places, a supermarket.

"Anyways, I think I might be going to P. Diddy's house or possibly that's code for his restaurant. I don't really know but someone mentioned P. Diddy."

On 2007's all-star charity record '7 Worlds Collide,' Johnny Marr and Radiohead's Ed O'Brien teamed up with Neil and Liam Finn to write the song 'Learn to Crawl,' which also featured Lisa Germano and three members of Wilco. Now Wilco drummer Glen Kotche has reworked 'Learn to Crawl' for the Chicago chamber music sextet Eighth Blackbird, who will perform the piece with none other than New York City chef and TV star Mario Batali.

"I've written for Eighth Blackbird in the past, and we've done some shows together," Kotche tells Spinner. "They are having their annual fundraiser, and Mario Batali's going to cook for it. So I'm arranging this piece for them, and because Mario plays a little guitar, he's also going to sit in."

Most times that Brian Borcherdt is on stage he's got a strange gizmo in his hands. Best known as frontman for dance party improvisers Holy F---, he's made career out of playing scavenged analog gear and random noisemaking machines.

But last night at Canadian Music Fest he got to strap on his first love – the electric guitar -- with his brand-new band, Fields of Fur.

The trio of Borcherdt on guitar and vocals, Anna Edwards (of the band Foxfire, also Borcherdt's fiancée) on bass and drummer Michael LeBlanc performed their third public show at the Garrison club to a full house of curious onlookers.

Tentatively beginning with a shoegazing number reminiscent of Borcherdt's introspective, acoustic solo material, the trio gradually built up to a sound combining post-punk rhythms with ethereal fuzz, dipping at times into a dark Velvet Underground territory.

The Allman Brothers did what they do best Thursday night at the United Palace Theater in New York City: they enabled every member of the audience to feel like they were traveling through time. It was as though the '80s and '90s had never happened. But that's why the Allman Brothers have endured -- their music is timeless blues-influenced rock. By stepping just one foot into that weed-infused den of classic rock, you are transported.

Amidst fathers and sons, 40-somethings and their wives, counter-culture-inspired teenagers and even a few very old hippies, the seven-piece band, which included three drummers, rocked for more than three hours. Their set included classics like 'Jessica' and 'Melissa,'a cover of Van Morrison's 'And It Stoned Me' and newer songs like the ballad 'Desdemona' and even a cover of the 1974 song, 'Aint No Love in the Heart of the City,' written by Michael Price and Dan Walsh and covered by everyone from Whitesnake to Jay-Z and Kanye West.

Dutch indie rock band Venus Flytrap return to Austin this year. The band, who built a following and cult status based on their performances, first played SXSW back in 2004. Spinner recently caught up with bass player Thomas van Buuren, one of the three founding members of the band.

Describe your sound in your own words.

Venus Flytrap is a haunting sound trip through a dissonant kaleidoscopic cosmos.

How did Venus Flytrap form?

We met in Art School and started making music together in 1996.

Currently on a UK tour with the Automatic, Welsh group Straight Lines are looking forward to their brief sojourn in the decidedly warmer climbs of Austin, Texas. The four piece will no doubt be hopeful that their energetic brand of pop-punk will lead to the same sort of US success that Welsh peers Lostprophets enjoyed six years ago. They spoke to Spinner during preparations to take Austin by storm.

Describe your sound in your own words.

A mash of indie, punk, rock and pop.

How did your band form?

We formed backwards. Tom and Dane had an album written and the band formed during the recording of the album.